Medicare For All ? Dental and Vision Coverage :: JAMES ROBERT ...

8-4-12

?In connection with my page on Health Care, Janet wrote:

What is your position on opening an improved Medicare to the nation?? With both dental and vision?? Do you support it?? How do you see your role as Lieutenant Governor with respect to that issue??

For sure, we need to be eating in these healthier ways ? and I sure like your position on making all foods organic ? but clearly people cannot afford the health care system as it exists ? and organic food is not going to pay for chemotherapy in a hospital.?

Our own Congressional Budget Office found through studies that opening Medicare to the entire country is the most cost effective way to provide quality health care to all Americans.?

65% of Americans support a single payer system, as they have in Canada, and as do 55% of American physicians.?

The reason why we have the A.C.A. is because our representatives represent the? health insurance and pharmaceutical industry, not The People who elected them.?

So, let?s get off the fence, for a moment.? Do you, or don?t you, support opening an improved Medicare for ALL Americans?

My answer:

It was a mistake to leave dental and vision coverage out of the Affordable Care Act, just as it was omitted from Medicare.

I would support Medicare For All if it were properly designed. Medicare as we have it is highly efficient for those it covers. When it was first enacted, it was expected that it would gradually be expanded to cover everyone. It would be easy enough to raise the Medicare tax and cover all.

Just as with Medicare, Medicare For All would allow private insurance companies to sell coverage for add-ons, as is the case with Medicare add-ons. Remember that Medicare does not cover everything. It has policy limits, just like a private insurance policy, and it does not cover dental and vision care. Those on Medicare can buy add-on coverage or ?gap coverage? as it is called, and they buy it from private insurance companies. So it is incorrect to refer to Medicare or Medicare for All as a ?single payer? plan because private insurance companies still have a place in the system.

Great Britainhas socialized medicine. The government employs all health care workers and owns all hospitals and clinics. This would not be a good fit for theUnited Statesor forWashington.

Canada Health is a Medicare For All program, and it is not socialized medicine. InCanadahealth care workers are not employed by the government, and hospitals are not owned by the government. The government is simply the payor. The Canadian people like their system, and so too do Canadian insurance companies. They do not have to bear the risk of covering all the health risks patients might incur, and they make a tidy profit selling add-on coverage. I do not know whether HealthCanadacovers dental and vision.

The Swiss program would also work in theUnited States. Private insurers provide coverage. They are not allowed to make a profit on basic health service, but they can make a profit by selling add-on coverage. The Swiss people like their system, and so too do Swiss insurance companies. I do not know whether the Swiss system covers dental and vision services.

The Hawaiian health system goes back 35 years and is highly effective and efficient. Insurance companies play the same part as under the APA, and the government leans on them to stress preventive medicine. People there are healthier. However, those who work less than 20 hours per week do not necessarily get health coverage paid for by their employers. Only 92% are covered under the Hawaiian program. Again I do not know whether dental and vision services are covered.

If I am elected lieutenant governor, I will make it one of my priorities to study and support a health care system that would cover all and that would include dental and vision coverage.

I would be eclectic about exactly how the health care system would work. I support keep private insurance companies in the picture providing add-on coverage.

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As to why we got a health plan like the APA, which leaves many millions of us uncovered, the answer is that both political parties are dependent on special interests such as health insurers for campaign contributions. As long as laws are for sale, we are going to have laws that serve the interest of the special interests who buy the laws and not the interest of ordinary citizens.

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Finally, I want to add that having access to clean and safe drinking water is a fundamental human right, probably the most basic and fundamental of human rights.

James@JamesRobertDeal.org

Source: http://jamesrobertdeal.org/medicare-for-all/

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